9 Questions with Marv

You probably know Marv as the dude who held down the final section in Voices ,not an easy task given that it was considered to be one of the best parts of last year . I was just as impressed by that part as everyone else so I got at him for an interview mostly regarding his part in the video. It sucks that I had to stray from only asking 6 questions, but I did this before I decided to stick with the number 6. Life is hard.

1) What's the story with those 8 piece bars you ride for most of your section in Voices? Why did you seeminly stop riding them towards the end of your section?

They are 4 piece and they were made by Powerlite. When I was young there was a group of riders known around London called Bicycle Union and they all had the same bike set up, 2 pegs, back brake, Powerlites and would always ride mini ramp. Everyone I grew up with thought they were the coolest so we all had a pair of powerlites at some point. They might look like shit but they feel amazing loads of up and back sweep. Pwerlite made two sorts though. One set came on their complete bikes which always broke and some super tuff ones they sold separately. I had the ones which broke and mine broke half way through filming. I’m over them now, it was the end of an era.

2) How long did you spend filming for Voices and was there some pressure going on holding down the last section in the video?

We filmed for about a year. Everyone else other than me and Benson had longer because we moved from Sheffield to London before the end of filming. There was no pressure about last section cos I didn’t know I was going to get it. Before I moved I watched my section as it was and just thought it needed me hammers so I just tried to film them.

3) There are about a thousand clips of you totally eating shit at the begining of Voices, did you sustain any serious injuries while filming for it?

No. just bounced

4) Voices was all street, do you ride park or trails much?

I grew up riding trails and skateparks. Then our trails got ploughed and my brake cable broke so I thought I was street and I just did loads of grinds. Then when I lived in Sheffield the park is almost all flat banks so it was just like perfect street.

5) What's the street riding like where you live? It seems like you have a lot of crazy spots out there, but a lot of them seem pretty harsh and hard to ride too.

Yeah there is a lot of street but none of it is perfect. We would watch American videos and be gutted cos all the spots look amazing, all the spots in this country always have something wrong with them. Either the run up or run out is shit or where you take off is a down slope. But you get used to it. It makes you look hard as fuck cos they look like shit too.

6) Where did you guys travel to film for the video?

Most of the video is filmed in Sheffield and the surrounding area. But a lot of England is in there, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, London, Bristol, and one trip to Barcelona, Spain.

7) A lot of kids online have been calling Voices a classic, on par with stuff like Don't Quit Your Day Job and the first 2 Animal videos. Did you guys see that coming while filming it or is it an unexpected suprise?

Fuck. Well there was a lot of hype around it where we were, but I don’t think anyone realized it would go as big as it has. Basically everyone with a full section has a major sponsor now its crazy. No one had a frame deal when we were filming, we had the worst bikes.

8) I'd honestly never heard a song like the one you use for your part in Voices, who was it and is that what most of the hip hop in the UK sounds like? Is it normal that I can't understand a single thing he's saying?

Dizzee Rascal and he is the fucking best. He ain’t hip hop he’s Grime. The whole grime scene in England is massive and it is because of Dizzee Rascal. There ain’t any other songs like that anywhere. I can’t understand some of what he’s saying but a lot of it is London slang. I only live about 2 miles from where he lives now but I ain’t seen him yet if I do I’ll defo give him a copy.

9) Is there going to be a sequel to Voices?

Fuck knows. Joe’s filming all the time and Dan Cox is the best these days, but I’m shit now and live 200 miles for where they are, I might make my own and call it Speaches.